1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly, to a modular jack having an internal circuit board therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modular jack receptacle connectors are commonly used in the computers or network appliance as input/output ports for transmitting data or signals. With recent increases in the speed of data transmission, requirements have become important for modular jacks. Modular jacks commonly include internal printed circuit boards (PCB) carried signal conditioning components thereon for improving electric capability of the modular jack. An example of such a connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,641, issued to Sakamoto on Dec. 3, 1991. The Sakamoto connector includes an insulative housing having front and rear internal chambers, an internal PCB having a choke coil soldered thereto and a plurality of contacts soldered to the internal PCB. The internal PCB is encased in the rear chamber and the contacts extend into the front chamber for mating with a plug connector. However, the internal PCB is easily sways due to being mounted in the rear chamber of the housing without any retention. Thus, soldering joints between the contacts and the internal PCB are easily damaged during assembling Sakamoto connector and mating with the plug connector, so that a reliable electrical connection is not ensured.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,767 issued to Scheer et al. on Jul. 15, 1997 discloses a conventional connector. The Scheer connector includes an insulative housing and an insert subassembly received in the housing. The Subassembly comprises a front insert member having a plurality of terminals insert molded therein, a rear insert member having an internal PCB insert molded therein. The terminals of the insert member are soldered to the internal PCB. However, the Scheer connector needs two insert molding processes, thus increasing complexity of manufacturing. Furthermore, the rear insert member is molding after the terminals and other signal conditioning components soldered to the internal PCB. It is easy to damage some components during molding the rear insert member. In addition, the subassembly must be entirely disposed even only one component is damaged. This inevitably increases the manufacturing cost.
Hence, a need has existed for an electrical connector having a reliable internal PCB for overcoming the disadvantages of the foregoing shortcomings.